


Claimed

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Long Journey [4]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-12 22:03:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3356909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reid’s still staying with Hotch after being kidnapped but Hotch isn’t sure how long he can live with the Guide and not profess his love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Claimed

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn’t going to be explicit and then the word explosive (you know who you are) was brought up and well it changed the story a little.

The sound of Reid moving around the house was something that Hotch hated and loved. He loved it because it meant he was here and he hated it because he knew that Reid would leave as soon as he got his eyesight back. It had been six weeks since the Guide and his son had been rescued and while the Guide was no longer jumpy and he was getting used to being blind, Hotch hadn’t let him go home to his apartment. He wanted to make himself believe that it was because of Jack but Hotch knew that it was because of him. He couldn’t stand the thought of Reid being anywhere but here in his home. The Guide was allowing it because of his blindness. Hotch knew that he wasn’t prepared to let the Guide go home after his blindness faded. That was a fight for another day though. 

Reid had started back to work three weeks before. He was stuck in Quantico but had been able to work on cases that he could listen in on. He was home to take of Jack, even when Hotch and the rest of the team were out in the field. Hotch and the team had got back late last night. Reid and Jack had already been asleep but there had been a welcome home plate of food in the oven for Hotch and a picture of Jack and Henry that Jack must have drawn. 

Jessica had taken the news well of who Jack’s Guide was. Hotch had been surprised. Jessica was a Guide in her own right and knew that no one had control on who they bonded with, Hotch had been worried about the male/male and her reaction to it.

“Hotch?” Reid called out softly from the kitchen. The Guide knew that Hotch would hear him. Jack must have still been asleep. It was near seven in the morning. Hotch was surprised that he was awake himself after getting in late the night before.

Getting out of bed, Hotch pulled on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt before he left his room, forgoing socks as it wasn’t that cold in the house. He found Reid sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in his hand and a plate of pancakes sitting in front of him. Reid had adapted well to being blind and being able to cook for himself. Better than Hotch thought he himself would be able to. There had only been minor mishaps. Since his cast had come off and he only had to wrap it now, the cooking got better.

“We have to talk. I have a plate of pancakes for you on the stove.” Reid used his mug to point. His eyes never left the spot on the wall he was staring at. Reid always looked at whoever he was speaking too, even if he couldn’t see them.

Hotch didn’t like the sound of Reid’s voice. There was a hopelessness to it. It wasn’t something he had heard in the young man’s voice very often. It had Hotch on edge. He didn’t think that he was going to like what was going to come out of Reid’s mouth. 

“Reid, what’s wrong?” Hotch kept his voice as calm as he could. 

“Will took me to my doctor’s appointment yesterday. They are worried about the progress of my eyes. I should have started to be able to see shapes instead of just darkness a while ago. I saw a specialist and he felt that I needed to try and do a search for my Sentinel.”

“But you know who your Sentinel is.” Hotch felt his heart break as he said the words. He closed his eyes and tried to reign in all of his emotions. He didn’t want Reid to feel his emotions lash out at him. He wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to work with Reid after the young man bonded with his Sentinel. He fought it tooth and nail but his heart had done what it wanted and fallen for the young man who sitting in front of him. Hotch left the pancakes where the food was and just filled up a cup of coffee, sitting down beside Reid. The Guide didn’t react, didn’t shift away.

“My Sentinel hasn’t reached out for me in years. I used to be able to feel him. It was an echo and for a long time I never knew who he was but five years into working with the FBI, I figured out who he was. It rocked my world a little and for a long time I was very scared of him. I made it my duty to never be in a room with him unless I had to be. Thankfully, I was never assigned to help him. The fear passed long ago but I still can’t reach out to him.”

“He works with us?” Hotch asked. That had Hotch shocked. He would have never been able to know who his Guide was and not reach out and take him or her. That Reid had been able to do that with his Guide, it showed how strong of a man he was. 

“Yes. The specialist is thinking that my gifts are keeping my eyesight suppressed so that I seem weaker, hoping to attract my Sentinel to me. I hate the fact that I think that the doctor is right. I hate seeming so weak. I don’t want him to think that the only reason I am seeking him out is that I want my eyesight fixed. If I could feel him, it would be different.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Hotch wanted to know why he had to listen to this and he couldn’t just go and grab his Sentinel and then it would be over.

“You’ve been awake for twenty minutes, Hotch and you’ve not noticed that Jack isn’t even in the house. You were focused more on me.” The change in topic quick and it distracted Hotch.

Hotch jerked in his seat and listened to the sounds of the house. Jack wasn’t in his bedroom, he wasn’t outside.

“Where is he?” Hotch knew that he had been in the house when he had come home. He’d checked on him. 

“JJ picked him up and took him to her house for the weekend.”

“I…” Hotch felt anger. It was the first time that he had ever been angry at Reid for anything that had to do with Jack. Jack was his son and not Reid’s no matter what the bond made him think. He wanted to get into his vehicle and drive to JJ’s and pick him up. He stopped that quickly. Reid had a good reason to do it, he just needed to give him a change to tell him.

“I know that you should be angry at me but I have a reason and part of it is that I want to try something with you and I didn’t want Jack around for it. If it fails, then you are free to go pick him up and I’ll go to Prentiss’s for the weekend.”

“Not your Sentinel’s?” Hotch let his anger color his voice and he regretted as soon as the words left his mouth. Reid flinched back from him like a puppy that had been kicked. Hotch almost reached out and cupped his face and pulled it close but he stopped as soon as his arm rose up.

“That remains to be seen. What I want to try is I want you to reach out for your Guide. You’ve been online long enough that I think that you’ll be able to do it.”

“What is the point of this?” Hotch didn’t want his Guide. All he wanted in his life was Reid. He wanted Reid to stay here and help him raise Jack and help turn him into the kind of man and Sentinel that both of them could be proud of. 

“I want to test my own gifts. If the doctor is correct, then I won’t be able to help you connect with your Guide. I shouldn’t be able to touch those parts of my gifts at all.” Reid looked at his face for the first time since he’d entered the kitchen. 

“Okay. Where are we going to do this?” Hotch wanted this over with so that he could get back to his normal life, with Reid and Jack. When this mockery was over it would be better.

“You’ll feel safer in your room. You don’t let just anyone in there and it smells of you and Jack. I think that it will be the best place.” Reid set his fork down on his uneaten pancakes and drained the last of his coffee before he stood up and moved towards the back of the house. Hotch had no course but to follow. Reid was standing at the foot of his bed, waiting when Hotch entered the room. “Sit on the bed in whatever position that you feel most comfortable and close your eyes and try and clear your mind.”

Hotch knew that Reid couldn’t see the look he was giving him and he was happy for that. He knew what he wanted to do and it had nothing to do with clearing his mind. Having Reid here in his bedroom was the stuff that his more recent dreams were made of. He had to keep himself from getting hard. He knew that Reid’s sense of smell was pretty strong, he would smell it if Hotch started to get aroused. The idea of Reid with him in bed though was too intoxicating. 

Still, he did as the Guide asked. It had been a while since Hotch had cleared out his mind and he knew that he should do it more but the ache in his chest always hurt worse afterward. Hotch crossed his legs in his lap and relaxed back, knowing that it wouldn’t take that long to get to the headspace that Reid wanted him to.

“Think about the times when you’ve reached out for your Guide. I know that you have because all online Sentinels do it. It’s a factor of life. All Guides and Sentinels are connected to their bonded, even if they have never met. The bonds though are weak until physical contact happens. I felt the joy of my Sentinel when he married his wife and pure happiness when he welcomed his first child into the world.”

Those thoughts almost pulled Hotch from his head space, he fought it though and reached out and found in his mind that spot that he always held his Guide. He hadn’t reached into the place since he was a teenager. He touched the spot and the happiness in that spot flared in his mind. He’d always known that his Guide was a male. He’d never been able touch his Guide before he’d turned fifteen. He wasn’t shocked at it. He could feel the touch of Reid’s gifts on his mind. The doctor’s theories were wrong, Reid could touch his gifts. There was another reason that his eyesight wasn’t coming back.

His Guide pushed back at him and Hotch nearly fell off the bed. He’d never felt his Guide reach back out to him. The ache in his heart ramped up and Hotch pushed back against his Guide. He wanted to reach out with his hands and pull his Guide into his arms. There was such love flowing into the bond that he could feel forming. He’d never known of a bond that formed when the Sentinel and Guide had never even met and touched.

The bond flared and Hotch thought that he could feel his Guide’s hands on his face, tipping his face up and kissing it. Hotch reached out and it felt like he was feeling his Guide’s body press close to him. He had never been so lost in his own mind and he wanted it to last forever. He knew why Reid hadn’t wanted Jack around for this. There was no way to keep his emotions inside. He was sure that Reid was feeling everything that he was feeling. He felt the emotions of his Guide as he was elated with something. Hotch pulled his Guide closer in his mind. He ran his hand over his Guide’s sides; he could feel the skin under his Guide’s shirt. He swore he could feel the heat of the skin on his hands. 

His Guide’s pleasure was so great that Hotch swore that he could hear a gasp tear from his mouth. Something started to nag at his mind but Hotch pushed it away. He was okay with getting off to a mental version of his Guide. Something rough brushed against his arm and Hotch was surprised when he felt his Guide climb into his mental lap. Pulling even more on his Guide’s mind, Hotch was surprised when a mental image popped up, it was hazy at first but slowly got clearer. He wanted to see his Guide but he hadn’t thought it possible. He thought for a few seconds that he was looking at his Guide until he knew that it was what his Guide’s eyes he were seeing with and it took several seconds to figure out that what he was seeing was himself. 

Opening his eyes, Hotch stared at Reid, who was in his lap, his wrapped arm at his side. His eyes were blown with pleasure. The bond thrummed in his mind. The bond between him and Reid. 

“Aaron,” Reid gasped as Hotch looked him in the eyes. He had seen through Reid’s eyes. 

“Reid…I don’t…” Hotch’s mind was shut down. He couldn’t think. He needed to get away from the man sitting in his lap. He pulled Reid closer instead. He buried his nose in Reid’s neck and inhaled. Reid shivered in his lap and Hotch did it again. “You will explain it all to me later.”

The bond was flaring between then and Hotch didn’t want to fight it. He wanted to wrap himself around Reid and never let the young man go. Reid shifted and Hotch kept his nose buried in his neck, not caring what Reid was doing as long as the young man didn’t leave his arms. Shifting again, Reid pressed his naked chest against Hotch’s chest. Reid had taken off his shirt off. Hotch pulled his head away and looked at Reid.

“Aaron, please. I need you.” The sound of his name coming from Reid, Spencer’s lips ramped up Hotch’s sex drive. Spencer was his Guide; he probably needed to start calling and thinking about him by his first name. 

“You can see?” Hotch asked. Spencer nodded and Hotch dove in, claiming Spencer’s mouth. Spencer gasped and Hotch took advantage and slid his tongue inside the younger man’s mouth. Spencer shuddered and Hotch shifted them. He lost connection to Spencer’s mouth but he didn’t care. Spencer was underneath of him and he was between the younger man’s legs. To complete the bond, Hotch had to glut himself on the touch, taste, and feel of the man. The sight and sound of him, Hotch was already glutted on the sight and sound of him. He could pick Spencer out in a crowd by sight and sound. 

Spencer tried to shove at his pants but Hotch stilled his good hand and pulled at the pants until the cloth slipped past Spencer’s hips. Spencer hadn’t put on underwear that morning and the sight of Spencer, naked on his bed nearly had Hotch coming. Spencer reached out his good arm, beckoning Hotch to come back. Pulling his shirt off, Hotch slid out of his pants as quick as he could. 

“I’m glad I can see you,” Spencer said as Hotch lay on top of him. The feel of their cocks sliding together had Hotch flying high. “I’d hate to be in this position and not be able to see you.”

Hotch said nothing, claiming Spencer’s mouth in a kiss that had the younger man thrusting up into him. Hotch shifted a hand to reach down in between them, touching Spencer’s cock. Spencer gasped and it made Hotch’s cock jerk. He felt Spencer wrap his legs around his waist and start to thrust up at the same time that Hotch was thrusting down. 

“Aaron, please.” Spencer was breathless and Hotch could feel Spencer’s need through the bond. It was heady and Hotch couldn’t deny him anything. Hotch slid down his chest. Surprise filled the bond and Hotch laughed as he gave a lick to Spencer’s cock. Spencer thrust as soon Hotch swallowed his cock. Hotch let Spencer thrust in and out of his mouth. It only took three thrusts before Spencer stilled. 

“I’m…You need to…”

Hotch applied suction and Spencer thrust one last time before he came. Hotch swallowed everything that Spencer shot out. Spencer moaned and his pleasure flowed through the bond. Hotch kissed up Spencer’s chest. He kissed the younger man, letting him taste himself. Spencer used his good hand and reached down. As soon as Spencer’s hand touched Hotch’s cock, Hotch came. 

“Aaron.” Spencer opened his mouth and sucked Hotch’s tongue into his mouth. Hotch let the younger man set the pace for the kiss. It was a slow and easy kiss. Hotch wrenched his mouth away and buried his nose in Spencer’s neck again. He inhaled. The taste of Spencer was firmly cemented on his sense. The feel of him was scarred across his nerves. The smell of him was so far in his mind that he swore that he would never smell anything other than Spencer. 

The ringing of his cell phone pulled Hotch out of his glutting. He didn’t want to answer it but he knew that he had to. Spencer handed him the phone and Hotch looked at it. It was JJ. 

“Hello?”

“Dad?” Jack’s voice was happy on the other end. “Dad, what happened?”

Hotch sighed and laid his head down on Spencer’s chest and Spencer started to card his hand through his hair. He should have known that Jack would feel the change in the bond. Jack was always so focused on his father that he knew when Hotch was injured in the field as well. A byproduct of losing his mother in a horrific way the therapist said. The bond between Jack and Spencer would strengthen. He could feel the echo of Jack in the bond from Spencer. He could feel how happy Spencer had been when he’d felt the bond with Jack forming. The happiness that his Sentinel’s child liked him. 

“Dad, did you find your Guide?” Jack asked. The voice sounded happy but sad as well. Hotch figured he knew why. Jack wanted Spencer to be his Guide, not some stranger. 

“Yes, buddy I did.” Spencer laughed and it shook Hotch’s whole body.

“I just heard Spencer laughing. Why is Spencer with you and your Guide? Dad?” The hope in his kid’s voice was something that Hotch would never forget. 

“Spencer and I will come for dinner at JJ’s tonight. I’ll explain more then.”

“JJ!” Jack yelled through the phone. Hotch pulled his phone back from his ear some so that his son’s screams wouldn’t bother him. “JJ, Dad and Spencer bonded.”

The phone went silent and Hotch laughed as he dropped his phone onto the bed and looked into Spencer’s soft eyes. 

“Hi.”

“Hi,” Spencer said softly.

“We have a lot to talk about, Spencer.”

“I’ll call the Director while you shower, I know you didn’t get one this morning.”

“I have a better idea.” Hotch sat up, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Why don’t we shower together and then reheat the pancakes. We can deal with the Director on Monday. Let’s not let work get into this weekend.”

Spencer smiled at him, leaning up to get a kiss. Hotch pulled him up as he stood himself. Spencer let Hotch lead him into the bathroom. It was jokingly called a honeymoon, the few weeks after bonding but Hotch knew where it had gotten that name. He wanted Spencer in his bed and he didn’t want to let him out. 

XxXxXxX

Spencer leaned back into his chest and Hotch smiled at the feel of him in between his legs. They were cuddled on the couch, Spencer had fallen asleep. Spencer was tense and Hotch had a feeling he knew why. Spencer has known that he was his Guide for over five years. Every time that his Sentinel was brought up, Spencer brushed everyone off saying that his Sentinel wasn’t ready. He’d been divorced for several years. How much more ready could he have gotten?

There was something else that Spencer was using as the reason he had hid. With Spencer asleep, his shields were allowing Hotch to feel everything, almost everything. Spencer was still hiding something. He’d wait it out.

A glimpse of something crossed his mind. Spencer was dreaming. The younger man turned to his side and Hotch smiled as the sight of a woman in his mind. The feelings that Spencer was projecting told him that it as someone that Spencer loved but it wasn’t a sexual love. Hotch figured that it was Spencer’s mother. He knew nothing of his Guide’s mother.

Spencer’s eyes opened and Hotch could feel a bit of wariness wash over him. He didn’t know where he was. Hotch stayed still while Spencer shifted up into a sitting position. The look on Spencer’s face told him everything. 

“It’s not a dream, Spencer,” Aaron said as he pulled Spencer’s face closer to him. As soon as his hand settled, Spencer’s eyes closed and he accepted the kiss. Hotch let Spencer dictate the kiss. The young Guide shifted again and then he was pressing himself all along Hotch’s body. Hotch grabbed his hips to hold him steady. 

“I waited for you,” Spencer said as he shifted to his knees, sitting between Hotch’s legs. “For years, I would feel you reach out. It was usually at night, while I was sleeping but it was there. I joined the FBI and it didn’t take long to figure out that you were close. Five years of hiding as much as possible and yet still trying to find you and I did. You were shot in the line of duty. I felt it.”

“The case in Maryland. I nearly zoned. I felt something reach out. I was able to not zone and I shot the man who shot me.”

“Yes. It was the last time that you reached out for me. I was outside Garcia’s room when it was relayed that you were shot but fine. She stated the time you were shot and it matched. It wasn’t that hard to figure it out then. I felt the birth of Jack and once I was able to get my hands on your file, I figured out all the times when you reached out.”

“After that I…I was scared. I was trying to hold onto Haley and she was jealous of my Guide. I pushed you away and locked you safely in a box. I guess I forgot to take you out after the divorce.” 

“I felt Foyet’s attack on you. Thankfully, I had the day off work. I sat in my apartment as he stabbed you each time. I couldn’t move. I was in so much pain. I arrived at your house at the same time as Prentiss. By then you were already in the hospital and there was nothing I could do. I…” 

Hotch silenced him with a kiss. Spencer made an indignant noise but allowed the kiss. The bond was settling nicely but he could feel the ache for skin on skin contact. He wanted to slip a hand under Spencer’s shirt but now was not the time, no matter what the bond was telling him. 

“You reached out for me while I was captive. I could feel you brush against my mental shields but I couldn’t reach back. Jack protected me but he couldn’t do anything. I don’t know what I would have done today if you hadn’t trusted me enough to do the exercise.”

“I wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” Hotch admitted. Now that the bond was settling Hotch could see what everything had truly been. He’d been so set that there was no way that Spencer was his Guide that he’d missed all the signs. 

Spencer looked at him with an inquisitive look on his face. It was a rare look for him. Hotch wasn’t sure what to think of it. He didn’t know if he liked it or not. 

“I accepted a while back that I was in love with you. The bond you have with Jack would have kept you in my life and I thought that it was enough but having you here every day. Waking up to your smell in my house and not being able to touch. I wouldn’t have last much longer. I would have broken and probably pushed you into a wall and kissed you.”

“I don’t think I would have minded,” Spencer said, his voice husky. Hotch leaned forward and kept moving until Spencer was lying on the couch, underneath him. 

“Shoved you into the wall and claimed you.” Hotch nipped at Spencer’s neck and the young man moaned, his legs dropped open. “Marked you as mine. Let the world know that you are no one else’s.”

“Aaron,” Spencer gasped as Hotch let their bodies touch. The young man’s hands were on his face, pulling him close for a kiss. “Everyone will know. The second we enter the bullpen everyone will know.”

“And?” Hotch silenced any answer with another kiss. After a minute, he pulled his lips away and moved to Spencer’s neck, marking him. 

“Let’s go to the bedroom. Mark me as yours all the way.” 

It was a blur as Hotch stood up, pulling Spencer into his arms and carrying him to the bedroom. He pushed into the bond and he watched as Spencer shivered on the bed. Hotch stripped himself, not looking at Spencer as he did. He’d stop and he knew it. When he was fully naked he turned to look at Spencer to find him just as naked. Letting Spencer pull him onto the bed, Hotch wrapped himself around his Guide. 

His last conscious thought happened when Spencer whispered in his ear. “Take me, my Sentinel.” The words send lightning to Hotch’s body.

Hotch knew that Spencer wasn’t a virgin. That ship had sailed long ago. The whole team had been surprised but given that he and another Guide had sex while he’d been in college hadn’t been a surprise. Hotch knew that a lot of Guides did that. Still he wanted their first time for penetrative sex to be the best for him. The bond between them would let Hotch know if he hurt him. 

Spencer’s lips on his neck drew him out of his thinking and he quickly kissed him again. The lube was easy to grab from the drawer at the bedside. He swallowed Spencer’s moan as he slid a finger inside him. 

“Please,” Spencer begged as Hotch pulled out to add a second. Spencer was trying to take his fingers all the way in. Hotch wanted to remember every single second but the feelings that were coming from Spencer over the bond bleed the whole thing together. 

When he slid into Spencer it was heaven. The younger man couldn’t speak. Hotch could feel the bond as it fully settled on the both of them with the intimate connection. Hotch figured that he would babble during sex. The silence was slightly unnerving. 

What felt like hours later, Spencer’s whole body shook and his orgasm pulled Hotch over as well. The Guide’s eyes close and didn’t open again until after Hotch had got them both into the large bathtub in the bathroom. He couldn’t stop touching him. He’d been denied it for so long that Hotch was sure that he would touch him as much as Spencer could let him. 

He knew the second that Spencer woke up. 

“It wasn’t you,” Hotch said as Spencer shifted to relax more against Hotch's body. 

“It wasn’t me what?” Spencer linked one of his hands with Hotch’s and let it relax against his chest. He didn’t stop the other hand that was rubbing up and down his side. 

“It was me. My Sentinel self was so focused on you that I couldn’t see it. I wanted you here. I needed to keep you here because if you stayed, I could pretend. I didn’t want you to go. Your gifts were reacting to mine and keeping your eye sight away to keep me happy. If you had got your eyesight back, I would have had no reason to keep you here.”

Spencer chuckled and brought their linked hands up; he kissed the palm of Hotch’s hand. Hotch knew mentally that the first few days after the bond settled were going to be filled with sex. It was a drive to get to know each other. Emotions couldn’t be controlled during sex and it fed the bond. The more sex the closer the bond would become and quicker. Still getting hard again while Spencer was sitting in front of him in the water was heady. Spencer wasn’t shifting, he wasn’t doing a single thing except relaxing back and Hotch was getting horny.

“That was my other thought but I couldn’t tell you that in the kitchen. You would have denied it and we wouldn’t be here.” Spencer gripped his hand harder and then shifted. Hotch knew that the young man knew exactly what he was doing. On the downward pass of Hotch’s hand down his side, he trailed it over Spencer’s hip. He found that Spencer was hard again. His Guide was going to be the death of him before the weekend was up. 

“Spencer,” Hotch moaned as the young man shifted and then was sinking down on him, still loose from earlier. 

“You are going to have to wear me out to get any sleep tonight.”

“You think JJ will keep Jack for us?” Hotch shifted his legs so that Spencer could get a better grip to move up and down. 

“I am sure she will. Or Morgan and Garcia will.” Spencer let his head drop backwards onto Hotch’s shoulder. Hands still linked, he helped Hotch grip his cock. It was easy to get lost in the sensations. Hotch didn’t want them to stop. It was rushed completely unlike their first time. 

Gasping from orgasm, Hotch helped Spencer stand up to finish cleaning off with a quick shower, pulling the curtain around them. JJ was expecting them for dinner. 

XxXxXxX

Spencer got to the door first but he waited until Hotch was behind him to knock. Will was the first to open the door. Hotch growled when he noticed that Will’s eyes had dropped to the mark on Spencer’s neck. Will just laughed and Spencer turned to glare at him. 

“DAD!” Jack came running down the hall and jumped into his arms. Hotch held onto him tight. 

“You are in trouble,” Will said low enough to where Hotch could barely hear it. Hotch looked away from his son and looked at his Guide. Hotch kept his eyes on Spencer but he listened to the whole house. There was a small gathering of people in the backyard. He knew the heartbeats and breathing of his team. There was only one member inside the house. Dave.

“Jack wanted a party and well, JJ caved under the combined forces of Jack and Henry. So we are having a party. I was the voice of reason, otherwise you would have JJ and Morgan here, interrogating the both of you before you even got into the house.”

Jack shifted in Hotch’s arms before he could say anything and was jumping into Spencer’s arms. Jack wrapped him in a big hug, smiling as he did. “Daddy.” The look on Spencer’s face as he took in that Jack was speaking to him and not to Hotch was worth it. The pure shock and love was visible, even to Will who chuckled and walked away. Hotch watched the tears start in Spencer’s eyes. Jack wiped the tears away and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Jack,” Spencer whispered, hugging Jack tight again. Hotch felt a tug at his pants and there was Henry wanting picked up. Hotch picked him up and moved closer to Jack and Spencer. 

“Can Henry and I go play?” Jack asked, not looking at Hotch. He was looking solely at Spencer. 

“Of course. Why don’t you show your dad and me where the party is at?” Spencer set Jack down and Henry wriggled to get out of Hotch’s arms. Jack pulled Spencer down the hall and Henry did the same for Hotch. The kids led them out into the backyard where everyone was. Morgan was at the grill, talking with Will. JJ, Prentiss, and Garcia were sitting in chairs by the swing set. As soon as they hit the outside, the kids took off towards the play area. Garcia saw them first and the squeal she let out had Spencer stepping back into him. Hotch laughed as his Guide tried his hardest to slip behind him to hide. 

“I don’t think so. If I have to face them. You do, too.” Hotch slid a hand around Spencer’s waist, pulling him close. Garcia smiled as she approached. 

“So cute.” Garcia reached for the ever present messenger bag but stopped when she noticed it was gone. Hotch laughed internally at the look of confusion on her face. She didn’t know what to touch him by. The team had gotten used to it being the focal point of interaction with him. Hotch had noticed that he had left it at the house on purpose. Hotch had even called that he’d left it. Spencer hadn’t reacted.

Spencer took pity on her, reaching out and taking her hand with his own. As soon as their hands touched, Garcia started to cry. She pulled him into a hug. Hotch let the two Guides have a small moment to themselves, removing his arm from Spencer and moving over to where Morgan was standing, watching his own Guide in wonder. 

“That’s a good look for him,” Rossi said as he stepped closer, a beer in his hand that he held out to Hotch. 

“What?” Hotch looked over at what the two men were looking at. 

“Happiness.” 

JJ and Prentiss moved over to the pair of Guides next and Hotch watched in wonder as Spencer reached out and steadied himself on Prentiss when he started laughing so hard that he almost fell over. Prentiss looked up at him and then Hotch saw that Spencer’s thumb was resting on her wrist, her bare wrist. He hadn’t jerked his hand away. He hadn’t reacted at all. 

Morgan was next. The two were standing beside the grill with Will and Spencer reached out to get his attention, laying his hand on Morgan’s arm. The look of joy on Morgan’s face told Hotch all he needed to know. This was his family. It was a weird little family but it was his.  
The End


End file.
